But Nature is complex. No medical procedure is free of risks, side effects, failures and complications. And in vitro fertilization is No exception.

Over last 35 years millions of IVF babies are born worldwide, of which almost 1 in 10 suffer from birth defects. Several predisposing factors are linked to increased risk of birth defects, developmental disorders and childhood malignancy in babies born of IVF pregnancy.

The study published in JAMA of July’2013

Extensive analysis of anonymous data of more than 2.5 million birth records from 1982 and 2007 from the Swedish national registers, showed only 0.914% chance of neurodevelopment disorder seen as Autism spectrum defect or IQ of less than 70. Incidence of Autism spectrum defect was at par with that seen in naturally conceived infants, but intellectual disability showed a small increase of 18% among babies born of in vitro fertilization.

Possible causes for increased risks in IVF babies

Twins and triplet pregnancies: Multiple embryo transfer is done to increase success rate in severe cases of infertility. Often parents also opt for it in hope of reducing the cost of the procedure. Multiple pregnancies are documented to be a major cause of developmental disorders in the offspring. Therefore, researchers from Canada have called for policy in favor of mandatory single embryo transfer during IVF treatment.

Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) ICSI is an IVF procedure. It is recommended for severe form of male infertility or after traditional IVF failures. In this type of IVF a single sperm is extracted (surgically or from ejaculation sample) and is injected directly into an egg. ICSI IVF procedure are particularly associated with cerebral palsy,intellectual disability, autism and other variety of neuro developmental disorders. Adverse effect on fetal development is attributed to:

• Natural selection of sperm is not at all allowed.

• Accidental unnoticed physical damage of the egg.

• Along with sperm insertion incidental contamination of egg cytoplasm with culture media.